Psychosomatic dermatology in Germany - A survey of 69 university clinics

Background and Objective. A questionnaire study of German dermatological cl inics was designed to show the situation and development of psychosomatic d ermatology 10 years after a similar study. Patients/Methods. A questionnaire was sent to 170 dermatological clinics. 7 6 were send back; 69 of them (40.6%) were evaluable. The questionnaires wer e mostly answered by the heads of the dermatological clinics (38/69=55,1%). Results. Nearly 85% of the dermatological clinics answered that they take p sychosomatic aspects into consideration in the therapy. 5,1% of the dermato logists working in clinics have additional psychotherapeutic certification. The improvement of coping behaviour seems to be the main goal of psychosom atic interventions. The importance of psychic factors increased in the last 10 years in comparison to a former study in regard to most of the dermatol ogical diseases. Conclusions. Psychosomatic aspects seem to be an obligatory part of inpatie nt dermatological therapy. The frequency of some diseases was underestimate d in comparison with results from literature.